Chapter One: Funeral Day
My family walked slowly back to the convoy of black limousines parked outside the cemetery. I held my mother round her slim waist and my sister was holding onto my left arm. My grandparents, both sets, were right behind us, followed by a selection of uncles, aunts, cousins, friends and work colleagues.
It had been a long boring service with several people wanting to make farewell speeches, although Mum, Sally and I had not done so. We had known the whole truth about Dad and not just the face he showed to the rest of the family and the world in general. He was a successful lawyer, no, had actually been a very successful lawyer. He was also a sadistic bully at home and had made our lives a complete misery. My mother, to my eyes the most beautiful woman I knew, had been completely subservient to his oppression and was just trying to get through the day without breaking down, whereas Sally was clearly trying to get to grips with the new found freedom that appeared within reach. Mum spent her life looking after the three of us; Sally had a job as a teacher at an infant school whilst I studied computers and web design and worked part time for a software company.
I helped Mum and Sally into the limo, admiring their stocking clad legs as the climbed into the rear seats. Both were wearing black dresses and black high heels and black hats, in Mum's case a wide brimmed floral piece that helped to hide her beautiful face, while Sally wore a smaller version. Because it was the height of summer neither of them wore a coat, which I could totally understand as my suit was making me very hot and uncomfortable. At least I think it was the suit and the air temperature. Before my father's death neither of them had ever worn anything as short as they did today. Dad insisted that they wore greys or dark browns that never went higher than mid-shin and covered up to their necks and down to their wrists. They sat on the forward facing seat, leaving me to use one of the rear facing jump seats.
None of us spoke during the short drive to the restaurant that we had hired to hold the wake but I was glad of the air-con in the car. I sat facing Mum and Sally trying hard not to show my bulge in my black trousers. Both looked stunning in their black outfits and as Mum watched me shifting unconsciously in my seat she smiled. We drew up outside the restaurant and Mum patted Sally's hand. "We've got through the worst part," she said softly. "Let's not spoil it now. Another hour or so and we'll be rid of everybody." I got out of the car first and stood to help Mum and Sally out; Mum gently squeezed my hand as I held it out for her, "Thank you darling," she whispered, "you've been a rock."
The catering staff had provided a buffet for the occasion and had done us proud. Everyone had plenty to eat although I spent the majority of my time walking round the assembled groups, usually mumbling meaningless inanities and shaking lots of hands. I spent the most time with my Mum's parents; I liked them both, they were very supportive. Grandad had his own building company and Gran ran a small fashionable clothing shop. They both hugged me and told me that they would do all they could to help us through the next few weeks. Dad's parents were a different matter, they had been cold and forbidding for my whole life, always critical of Sally and me and as I spoke to them later they remained the same, voicing their disapproval of both the funeral service and the catering. Actually our Grandmother was Grandfather's second wife as my Father and Aunt's mother had died two years after Sophie had been born. Sally called her Grandmother "the Ice Cold Queen". They were all dressed in black, my Grandmother and Aunt wearing black jackets and skirts, although neither was as short as Mum's or Sally's. I didn't spend long with them and left without a hug or a shake of the hand, walking back to where Mum and Sally were sitting.
I picked up a glass of white wine and loaded a plate with bits and pieces to eat, the first chance I'd had to get anything to eat or drink. I stood beside Mum, "Is there anything you'd like me to get you?" I asked her. She had taken her hat off when we walked into the room and as I looked down I could see the deep cleavage that her low-cut dress revealed. She had always been a "trophy" wife to my father who had been forty years old when they married, whilst she had been just nineteen. My sister was the eldest of her two children and was twenty, I was just turned eighteen and now the man of the family. Sally took after Mum, long blonde hair, blue eyes and a drop dead gorgeous figure that was shown off to its advantage in her tight small black dress. I had my father's build, but not, I'm glad to say, his outlook on life. I'd always thought my mother was hot, but the tyranny at home had never given me the opportunity to tell her. My sister was beautiful, a younger version of our mother but had never been allowed to express herself by our father who had always insisted that both Mum and Sally wore nothing but the unsexist of clothes that completely hid their undoubted full bodied sex appeal.
"No thank you darling," Mum looked up at me and smiled. "I think another half hour or so and we could leave without too much fuss."
"I'd rather leave right now." Sally muttered, "Bunch of hypocritical vultures."
"Not all," I replied softly. "Gran and Grandad are here, as well as Uncle Tim and Aunt Maggie with James and Sarah." They were all my mother's family and so we got on well with them, although they didn't visit very often following various disagreements with my father.
"Yeah, except them." Sally agreed. "We're better off without the rest though."
"Agreed," I nodded. "We certainly won't need to see any of Dad's lawyer cronies and his family can get lost as well."
"I love you both," Mum breathed. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been here with me."
Sally and I smiled at Mum as she looked about to burst into tears. I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket and slipped it into her hand. "In case you need this." I whispered. "And we'll always be here for you; we both love you very much."
"Thanks baby," she gulped, "I think it's time we made a move. Are you both coming?"
We both nodded and I helped Mum to her feet. She held onto my arm as Sally picked up both hats from the table and we walked slowly out to the waiting car. The driver opened the door and we sat back in the same seats as we when we arrived. The drive from the restaurant was about thirty minutes and we didn't say much for several minutes, sitting in comfortable silence. It was Sally that finally broke the quietness. "Thank god that's over." She said quietly. "Now we can start to live a little."
Mum smiled enigmatically. "What do you mean by "live a little"?"
"Well now Dad's not with us any more you can relax and enjoy yourself without his constant bullying and all-round nastiness." She put her arm round Mum's shoulders and gave her a quick cuddle.
"That's true Mum," I spoke softly, "you've now got us to look after you for a change. We really appreciate all the flak you took from Dad to keep us safe." I remembered the many times we had sat down for breakfast when Mum didn't manage to hide the bruises or her red eyes from crying. I reached across the space between us and put my hand on her knee and slowly rubbed her leg, feeling the soft smoothness of her silk stockings. "Silk?" I said, surprised as she had always worn nylons, but not silk when Dad was alive.
Sally giggled, "We both are sweetie. It's a sort of rebellion against all the rules and regulations he imposed on us."
I felt Mum shiver slightly as my fingers slowly caressed her thigh. She leaned back in the seat and sighed. "That feels lovely darling, I'm quite tense and wound up after all this." I glanced down and noticed that her black dress had ridden up slightly and I could glimpse her naked thighs above her stocking tops. I hardened instantly at the forbidden sight of my mother's legs and I glimpsed a smile on my sister's lips as she saw the movement in my trousers. She slowly leaned back as well and parted her knees to excite me further. "I'm pretty tense as well." She murmured seductively. I felt my temperature start to rise in spite of the air-con and I placed my free hand on my sister's leg, sliding it along her silk clad thigh, matching my movements with the hand on Mum's thigh. They both sighed and closed their eyes for a brief moment.
Unfortunately, that was the precise moment that the driver called over his shoulder that we were home.
"Shit!" I muttered under my breath. We all rose and clambered out of the door as the driver held it open for us. "Thank you," I said, palming a twenty pound note into his hand as I stepped out. He pocketed it swiftly and smiled a "thank you".
Mum cuddled me again as we strolled up the path to the front door; Sally clung onto my free arm. I felt absolutely fantastic, knowing that we were finally free of Dad's looming presence; that was now six feet underground twenty five miles away.
